


butterflies

by xx_anklebiters_xx



Series: miserable [2]
Category: Bandom, Paramore
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:29:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 16
Words: 17,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25229110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xx_anklebiters_xx/pseuds/xx_anklebiters_xx
Summary: sequel to miserable"i was hiding in doubt 'til you brought me out of my chrysalis.then i came out new all because of you."
Relationships: Hayley Williams/Taylor York
Series: miserable [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1826542
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

Hayley inhaled and then exhaled. Each time she failed to calm herself with a deep breath, she took another. It made her lightheaded.

Taylor, having seen her sway, walked by and stopped to kiss her forehead. "You make yourself anxious," he told her. She nodded. "Besides, shouldn't _I_ be nervous?"

Hayley laughed a little and nodded, "You're right. But I'm perpetually anxious."

"Yeah, yeah," he chuckled. Then he made his way back to the kitchen and continued to cook. "I'm gonna be really disappointed if you don't figure out how to finish that song."

"I am, I swear! I just can't focus. Okay, for that one part, I have, 'Kiss full of color makes me wonder where you've always been,' for before the chrysalis line. Yes?" She watched him nod from across the room.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. The couple made eye contact and then Hayley jumped up. As she opened the door, Taylor wiped his palms on his pants.

"Momma!" Hayley yelled as she engulfed her mother in a hug. She did the same to Zac. Without the word momma, of course.

Somehow, neither adult had noticed Taylor across the room. Hayley invited them in and Zac asked, "So what was it that you needed to tell us?"

"Well," she started, "I wanted you guys to meet Taylor. He's my boyfriend." Both adults looked shocked and exchanged glances. Taylor made his way over.

"Hello to you both," he said with a smile. He shook Cristi's hand, then Zac's.

"I know you!" Zac said. He looked at Hayley with a smirk. "You did not!"

"I know him too!" Cristi said. She was excited for Hayley. Hayley then realized that she hadn't mentally prepared for a night full of embarrassment.

"I thought you said he was a goon," Zac pointed out. Hayley's eyes widened and she glanced at Taylor.

"I called you a tyrant, we're equal." He smiled at her and then looked back over to her loved ones. "Please come in, dinner is ready!"

Taylor indulged himself in the stories Cristi told about Hayley, smiling at her every so often. Everything she told him, he believed to have still been true: her heart of gold, her obsession with singing, her even worse obsession with dogs. And he was glad that Hayley still had these qualities because she hadn't let go of the part of herself that could save her.

Sometime when they were talking after dinner, Zac said, "Uh, Taylor, let's take a walk."

Taylor agreed without a second thought and the two men made their way out to the hall.

"What's up?" He asked.

Zac sighed. "When I met Hayley, she was the happiest kid in the world. You could never get her to stop smiling. She had no reason to. It was just her and her mom and that was all she needed.

"I don't know why, but after she turned 18, something changed and she went away. She was reserved and unhappy and for that whole year, she showed up to my house every night crying. I got really scared because she started asking me things like if she died would anyone care and stuff like that. And I don't know what made her so sad.

"She only got slightly better before she started drinking and she's really never been the same since. I don't know how, but lately, she looks like that kid again. I can't even remember the last time she looked happy to be here, and tonight, it's all on you."

Taylor grimaced for a second because he knew why Hayley was so sad, why she wanted to die. He just wished she hadn't been too scared to tell anyone before him. But then he smiled and hugged Hayley's teary-eyed friend.

"Thank you," He told Zac. "I love Hayley, I really do. And if I can, in anyway, make her happy, I will."

"I hope you do." He said. It was more like a passive threat.

When the two men went upstairs, Taylor beckoned Hayley out into the hall.

"Is something wrong?" She asked immediately.

"No. Well, maybe," he couldn't decide on the right answer, but didn't want to scare her. "I think you should tell them. You know, about what happened."

"Why?" Hayley asked. "I can't do that."

"Because I realized that you're surrounded by people who love you and none of them understand why you went from being this extremely happy kid to this burdened adult. It's important for them to know at some point, Hayley." She sighed and he could tell she was weighing her options.

"Do _I_ have to?" And at that moment, they both understood what she was implying. They both knew it would be better.

"No, _you_ don't," He told her. "Do you want to wait out here?" Hayley nodded, so Taylor went in on his own.

"Where's Hayley?" Cristi asked. Taylor sat down in a chair on the other side of the coffee table, across from her and Zac.

"She's outside because I need to tell you something." He took a breath because he hated to think about the woman he was utterly in love with in such a position. "A while ago, Hayley was involved in a situation that, uh, she was afraid to talk about. It seems that the reason she changed so quickly and the reason for her drinking problem lies within the fact that, uh, Mr. Gilbert sexually assaulted her at a party." He cleared his throat and finally looked up at the people across from him. Zac's breathing was labored and his fists were clenched. Cristi, however, showed now emotion.

"When?" Zac asked.

"Her first New Years party with the label." And then it clicked for Zac and he shot up.

"I'm gonna kill him," Zac said. Taylor stood up too.

He said, "You need to calm down before Hayley gets in here. We're handling this her way." Zac took some deep breaths and nodded.

When Taylor called Hayley in, she stepped in front of her mother and best friend with her head lowered. Zac gave her a pained look and she diverted her eyes to the floor.

"Momma, do you hate me?" She asked. And no one understood why Cristi would.

"Baby," she said and then softly reached for Hayley's hand. When Hayley gripped it, she pulled Hayley down onto her lap. "You could have told me. It's my job to protect you and I'm sorry that I didn't."

Hayley buried her face in her mother's neck as a sob escaped her lips. Cristi rubbed Hayley's back and shushed her.

"Maybe you should come back to my hotel with me. Just for tonight," she suggested. Hayley nodded, so she did.

That night, she curled up to her mother and for a while, she cried. Cristi didn't mind her daughter crying, and she didn't mind holding her hair back when she ran to throw up in the toilet. She knew, after talking to Taylor, that each time Hayley had to talk about the situation, she was psychologically triggered and that he'd found that it often involved her throwing up. So it was okay, and she wasn't going to do anything but keep her daughter safe and comfortable.


	2. Chapter 2

"Auntie Hayley!" Nora screamed when Jana opened their front door to reveal Hayley. Hayley looked equally shocked and happy about Nora's new name for her.

"You missed a step there, honey," Jana said with a chuckle. She mouthed an apology to Hayley.

The little girl thought for a second and said, "Oh! Uhhhh.. Mommy said I had to ask you about that."

"Well, sweetheart, I don't mind. Let's see how Uncle Taylor feels about it first." She winked at Nora before looking back up to Jana. "Is Ella ready?"

"Yeah, we've just gotta get the bassinet in your car and the car seats installed." She said. Hayley nodded. The two women loaded the folded bassinet into Hayley's trunk and locked both car seats in.

"Okay, I've got all the diapers and clothes and bottles and formula and everything. We're good to go." She smiled at Jana.

"Are you sure you're okay until Wednesday?" Jana asked.

"Of course! I love these kids." The woman was more than happy to babysit the little girls for a few days.

"Thank you so much! Make sure you tell Taylor thank you when he gets off of work." With that, Hayley left with the two children.

After some quality time with the baby and toddler, Hayley got a call from Taylor.

"Have you by, any chance, collected my nieces yet?" He asked when she picked up. Hayley laughed.

"Yes, I have definitely picked up our nieces," She said with a smiled. Her stomach felt warm inside.

"Pretty sure they're just mine," he joked.

"Oh, really? That's not what Nora told me today." She had Ella asleep in one arm and Nora watching a movie in front of her.

He said, "Nora is a toddler."

"Then maybe you'd better call Jana."

Taylor was just a little scared of Jana, so he kindly declined. "What should I make for dinner?"

Hayley laughed and said, "Anything that has a side of mac and cheese."

While Taylor was making dinner, Nora climbed onto Hayley's lap. She was glad Ella was finally in her bed, she missed her auntie Hayley.

"Remember how you asked me if uncle Taylor gives me butterflies?" Hayley whispered. Nora nodded. "I wrote a song about it. Wanna hear?"

"Yes!" Nora practically screamed.

"Okay, tell me how you feel about this part," She told her and then started singing, "You untangled all the strings around my wings that were tied. I didn't know him and I didn't know me, cloud nine was always out of reach. Now I remember what it feels like to fly. You give me butterflies." Nora clapped which caused Hayley to smile. She could see Taylor smiling from the kitchen.

Nora turned herself to where she was facing Hayley and asked, "Auntie Hayley, can I ask you something?"

Hayley wrapped her arms around Nora and smiled. "Of course, honey," she told her.

"Well, Uncle Taylor told me that you're his queen but a long time ago, someone stole your crown and that all he wants to do is give it back to you so you can be happy. Did he give it back?" Hayley's eyes welled with tears.

"I think he's still helping me build it. So kind of. He'll give it to me one day, don't worry." She ruffled Nora's hair and smiled before leaving her to watch TV.

Once away from the child she ran to the kitchen to tackle Taylor in a hug. "What's this for?" He asked.

"Loving me," she told him. He smiled into her hair.

He said, "I definitely do love you. It's not worth a thank you, though." He kissed her forehead and told her, "Get Nora, dinner's ready."

After dinner, Hayley, Taylor, and Nora enjoyed some Disney princess movies. Every time there was a grumpy character, Hayley and Nora joked that it was Taylor. He pretended not to enjoy the two girls screaming all the lyrics to the songs.

When it finally got to the time where everyone was ready to go to bed, Hayley made sure Ella was fed and changed. While she was cradling the infant and humming softly, Taylor watched her silently. He was amazed. From across the room, he snapped a picture on his phone and sent a text to his brother.

**Taylor 9:36 p.m.**   
**_Damn your kids_ **

**Justin 9:37 p.m.**   
**_What did Nora do?_ **

**Taylor 9:40 p.m.**   
**_Hayley's putting Ella to sleep and it's amazing. I've come to the conclusion that I want to start a life with her_ **

**Justin 9:43 p.m.**   
**_That's usually how it works._ **

Taylor didn't know it, but Justin shared these texts with his wife. In turn, she decided to check up on Hayley.

**Jana 9:50 p.m.**   
**_How was your first night with the girls?_ **

**Hayley 9:51 p.m.**   
**_it was a dream_ **

**Hayley 9:51 p.m.**   
**_i wanna spend my life like this_ **

**Jana 9:55 p.m.**   
**_That's a good sign. Goodnight._ **

**Hayley 9:57 p.m.**   
**_goodnight_ **

While Hayley and Jana were talking, Taylor and Nora were reading a bedtime story together. By the time they were finished, Hayley was already laying in bed with her eyes closed.

"Uncle Taylor," she heard Nora whisper loudly. She pretended not to hear. "Auntie Hayley is in my spot."

"No, Nora. You and Auntie Hayley share that spot. You've gotta ask her to scooch." Hayley tried her best not to giggle as she felt Nora climb in from Taylor's side of the bed and curl up next to her.

In the morning, Hayley chuckled when her eyes fluttered open and she saw that Taylor was curled up on the edge of his side of the bed with Nora's feet digging into his back. She was laying completely horizontally, her arms stretched out over Hayley's midriff.

She carefully peeled herself out from under the small girl to check on the baby. Ella was still peacefully sleeping. Hayley watched over her in complete awe. She wanted a baby and she was sure of that, but she knew there was a time for that and that it hadn't come yet. And she was almost certain that, when the time came, she wanted it to be with Taylor.


	3. Chapter 3

One night, Taylor awoke to the sound of Hayley's faint whimpers. Her face looked distressed as she squirmed and when her legs thrashed, he decided to shake her awake.

"Hayley!" He exclaimed, shaking the woman rather roughly. Her eyes shot open and her body bolted up in a violent jerk.

No matter how many psychiatry lectures he'd gone to in college, he still felt a pang in his chest when Hayley's eyes singled in on him with pure fear. And as if she didn't know him, she shoved her arms out at him with a sob.

"Hayley, are you okay?" He asked and attempted to stop her from getting up so quickly.

"Get off me!" She shrieked, flailing her limbs in an attempt to free herself. It occurred to him that she may have felt trapped, so he let her go. This didn't stop him from following her.

"Hayley, I just want to know if I've done something to cause you discomfort lately," he pleaded. She said nothing, but only began to pull on pants and then shoes. Taylor was desperate. "Hayley, did something I do make y-"

"It's everything, okay?" She finally shouted. The tears running down her face made the stairs hard for her.

Taylor was in shock. "What do you mean?"

Hayley stopped and turned around, not expecting Taylor to have been so hot on her trail. She stumbled back. "I can't do this."

Taylor knew that he couldn't stop her from going, so he just watched her fish her keys out from the bowl next to the door and leave.

The next few days, neither of them bothered to contact each other. Taylor knew Hayley needed space. Needless to say, all of the Yorks were surprised when Taylor showed up to family brunch alone.

"Where's Auntie Hayley?" Nora asked him.

"Hayley may not show up for brunch for a while," he said and then lowered his voice to grumble, "or ever."

And brunch had never been more awkward. Afterward, Taylor's mother waved him into the kitchen with her. He was a mama's boy who was just waiting to spill his guts.

"Son," she said, "you need to explain what happened."

He sighed, "I don't know, Mom."

"Well, how did it start?" She asked. He knew that he couldn't tell her without a little background. The problem was that he didn't feel it fair to spill Hayley's business.

"It's complicated. I'll explain it, but _don't_ interrupt," he decided.

"Got it."

"So the man that owns the label Hayley's signed to assaulted her right after she turned 18. I found out that he has sex with all the women signed to the label but because Hayley's manager was against that, he chose to just take advantage of her. She's terrified of him.

"Anyway, she has night terrors and the other night, I woke her up from one and she looked at me like she didn't know me.

"I was worried and asked her if I had done something to make her uncomfortable and she said _everything_! And the next thing I know, she's leaving!" He leaned against the counter and sighed heavily. His mother nodded, still taking in all of his statements.

"And you've given her time?" She asked.

"Yes, and Mom, I love her. I'm _in_ love with her, I don't understand how she can claim that I did everything wrong!" She moved closer and put a hand on her son's shoulder.

"Taylor, is it possible that you two have been in a situation where she was too scared to say that she felt pressured by you?"

"Mom, no!" He was pretty offended. "I told her, we aren't doing anything until she's ready. And I told her that even if she felt she wouldn't ever be ready, I'd love her anyway."

"How old is she again?"

"She's 22."

The woman thought for a second before saying, "This is her first real relationship, isn't it?" Taylor nodded. "Maybe she's stressed about that." Taylor nodded.

Later that night, Taylor decided to send a text to Hayley.

**Taylor 9:18 p.m.**   
**_Can we talk?_ **

He could see Hayley typing for quite a while, but the text she responded with was short.

**Hayley 9:22 p.m.**   
**_on my way_ **

When Hayley arrived at Taylor's apartment, she was thoroughly ashamed. He let her in and automatically moved forward to stroke her face. She flinched.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," He cooed, but still, she swallowed hard when he moved closer.

"I'm sorry," she told him.

He smiled softly, "It's okay, baby." He guided her inside and she followed him until he sat down on the couch. She remained standing. "What happened?"

"Well, I would like to tell you that I got really scared when I started getting up and you tried to keep me from getting out of the bed. I know you didn't mean to, but it scared me," she explained.

Taylor nodded and said, "I realized that so I let you go. I'm sorry."

"And I'm sorry because I didn't mean what I said. You've gone farther than anyone ever has to make me comfortable." She sighed. "It's just been weird since I made you tell my mom and Zac. She calls me every day now and Zac just doesn't." She looked sad and Taylor could tell that unless he could get Zac to talk to her, he couldn't fix it. "And I got scared because I realized that I want a life with you. One like Justin and Jana's. But the idea of that is overwhelming and I don't want to feel like that about you if you don't feel the sa-"

Taylor interrupted. "Hayley, I want to marry you." He realized what he said and didn't know if he should have. "I just don't want you to feel like I'm your only option. Especially because you've never been in a serious relationship."

Hayley pointed to the pillow on Taylor's lap. "Move that," she demanded. He let go of it and pushed it aside. It was soon replaced by Hayley's body.

"Why are you always on my lap?" He asked.

"Because it's the safest place I can be." They smiled warmly at each other for a second. "Anyway, I know that I've never been in a serious relationship. I get where you're coming from, but I _want_ you to be my only option. And since we're engaged now, I'd like to name our first boy Benji." Taylor slapped her thigh playfully.

"Then we'll name our first girl Nikki." Hayley scrunched up her nose at him. "And we're not engaged." He failed to notice Hayley typing rapidly on her phone.

"That's disgusting. Nichole, yes. Nikki, no. And yes we are." Taylor laughed at Hayley.

"Nikki is the Benji of Nichole, babe. We're not engaged."

**Justin 10:43 p.m.**   
**_You're engaged?_ **

"Did you tell Jana that we're engaged?" Taylor asked Hayley. She began to laugh and nodded her head. "You're the worst."


	4. Chapter 4

"It's just hard. I thought she was comfortable telling me everything," Zac said. "I have half a mind to kill that bastard."

"You have to understand that she's scared of him and didn't know how to tell anyone. Anyway, I think she was worried about how you'd react," Taylor explained.

"Can I talk to her?" Zac asked.

Taylor thought and said, "No, she's sleeping. She actually hasn't gotten out of bed today. I think she's having a low."

"Oh," Zac said, "Can you tell her to call me when she's feeling better?"

"Of course."

"Thanks, bud."

Taylor reentered his apartment and went up the stairs. Hayley was asleep in their bed, her knees pulled tightly to her chest. He climbed into the bed and her eyes opened.

"Okay, so you're not asleep." He said. She shook her head. "How are we feeling as far as talking today?" She shook her head again. "Not good? That's okay."

She gave him a sad smile and moved some hair out of her face.

"Can I keep you company?" He asked. She nodded. When he climbed into the bed, she uncurled her body and pulled herself closer to him. They fit together like two pieces of a puzzle and Hayley's tensions eased.

"I think I have something that'll make you smile," he said. He pulled his phone out from his pocket and unlocked it. "Justin sent me this video of Nora."

Taylor pressed play and immediately, Hayley heard Justin ask, "What did Mommy say, Nora?"

To which Nora replied, "Owls are not turtles."

Justin turned the phone to Jana and asks, "What did you tell her?"

Jana's laugh filled the room just before she said, "I told her that owls are nocturnal."

The video ended with laughter and Hayley smiled. "She also recently learned the word damn and has continuously used it to the best of her abilities."

Hayley laughed a little and then her smile faded. To Taylor, it looked like she was searching his eyes for hope. He hated that she felt the need to do so at times.

"She's been begging to see her auntie Hayley but she's just been too damn busy, apparently," Taylor told her with a chuckle. "She really said that."

The woman smiled, but her eyes were still sad. Taylor couldn't stand to see her sad. He brought a hand up to gently stroke her cheek. She nuzzled her face into him.

"Have you given any thoughts to taking your meds today?" He asked. She shook her head. "Maybe you should."

She had neither a verbal nor physical response to his suggestion, which made him decide not to push the idea. He could feel her fingers slowly moving. Her thumb was touching the tips of her other fingers one by one as an anxiety-relieving exercise she'd learned in therapy.

"I talked to Zac today. He'd like it if you called soon," he told her. This seemed to catch her attention. "You know, he just didn't understand why you didn't tell him. Do you have an idea of what you want to do as far as going back to work at a different label?"

She shrugged and let out a heavy sigh. Looking down, Taylor could see that she'd closed her eyes again. Droplets of water began to collect at the tips of her eyelashes.

"Are you sad today?" He asked. She shook her head.

"Are you numb?" She shook her head again. Usually, she admitted to feeling nothing but having a desire to. Taylor thought this was odd.

"Are you angry?" She nodded. "Is it about what happened?" She nodded once more and Taylor wiped her tears. Her eyes remained closed because she was afraid to look at him.

She shivered slightly and scooted away from Taylor. He didn't try to close the space between them.

"Are you also a little bit scared?" He wondered aloud. Hayley nodded, seemingly less sure than she had before. "That's okay, you know."

Hayley wanted to respond to him, but she couldn't form a single, cohesive thought. Everything was a jumble to her because it seemed that she had so much to say.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the buzzing of Taylor's phone. He groaned, "Nora is trying to FaceTime me right now."

For whatever reason, Hayley slid the answer button. Seeing that she wasn't in the mood to talk, Taylor thought this to be a setup.

"Are you taking a nap?" Nora asked. She'd quickly realized that the couple was in bed. "It's too damn early for a nap."

"Something like that. Auntie Hayley isn't feeling very well," Taylor explained. He tried his best not to laugh at Nora's use of the word damn.

"Hi, Auntie Hayley!" She yelled. "Do you have a tummy ache?"

Hayley nodded because it was actually true. Taylor looked at her curiously. She chose not to acknowledge that glance.

"Is there a baby in there?" She asked.

"Nora!" Taylor exclaimed.

"What? Mommy had a baby in _her_ tummy!"

Taylor rolled his eyes and said, "There isn't a baby in there."

"How do you know?" Nora questioned. Hayley stifled a giggle.

He began to say, "I know there's not a baby in there because we didn't have s-" but Hayley slapped his chest.

"You didn't have what?" Nora asked. "Auntie Hayley?"

Hayley shrugged at Nora and jerked her thumb in the direction of Taylor. He sighed and said, "Auntie Hayley isn't going to have a baby because she hasn't wished real hard for one yet. And she's not old enough."

"How old do you have to be?" Nora asked.

"You should ask your daddy that okay, love you, bye!" Taylor hung up the call. "Way to throw me under the bus, Hayles."

"I wasn't the one who was about to tell a three year old we haven't had sex yet," she remarked.

"Oh, so _now_ you talk!" He exclaimed. She laughed.

"Of all the dumb things I've been privileged enough to see you do, this one takes the cake."

"Oh, hush up," he groaned.

"Also, how do you know I haven't wished real hard for a baby?" She asked.

"Oh, I bet you have," he told her. He began to tickle her sides and she shrieked. "No babies yet! We've gotta get engaged!"

"We _are_ engaged!"

"Not again."


	5. Chapter 5

trigger warning: sexual assault attempt

Hayley was ordered to fly back to Nashville for a meeting with the head of her record label. She begged Taylor to accompany her, so he took a couple of days off of work to do so. The morning of her meeting, Taylor awoke to the sound of Hayley vomiting in her bathroom. He scrambled out of bed and quickly made his way to her.

"Baby, are you okay?" he asked, kneeling down to rub her back. She nodded before retching again. "Maybe you should stay home."

After her retching finished, she sat in front of the toilet taking deep breaths. When no more came up, she said, "I'm fine. I just got really nervous because of Mr. Gilbert and I-"

"It's okay," he interrupted. "I understand. Let's not make it worse, alright?"

She nodded. "I need to start getting ready." After flushing the toilet, she hoisted herself up and rinsed her mouth out with mouthwash and then brushed her teeth.

Hayley took some deep breaths and paced outside of Chad's office door before entering. She'd already been told that she was permitted to enter, but she needed time. A lot of it.

"Take a detour?" Chad asked when she entered. "Because the secretary said she sent you up ten minutes ago."

Hayley gulped and shook her head. "Forgot the way. It's been a while."

Chad pushed his chair back from his desk and patted his knee a single time. "Come sit," he commanded.

Hayley took a seat in a chair on the other side of his desk. Chad sighed heavily. She looked down at the floor.

"Why are you acting so strange?" he questioned.

"It's weird to be back in Nashville," she told him quietly.

"Come here." Hayley's breathing hitched as she rose from her seat and made her way to him. He pulled her down onto his lap so that both of her legs fell between his. "Is there a reason why you've been trying to stay in New York for so long?"

Hayley shook her head and mumbled, "No, sir."

He squeezed her thigh and hummed. "What do you do up there all by yourself, anyway?"

"I FaceTime my mom and Zac all the time. I go to therapy," she reported.

"And you're writing music?" Hayley nodded. "Is your therapist still that lame little guy?"

"No, I see a woman named Jennifer now," she said. This was true, she had recently started seeing a different therapist so that Taylor technically wasn't breaking his code of ethics.

"You'll be ready to record in a couple of months, right?" Hayley nodded. "Good girl. You're not busy today, are you?"

Hayley tried her best not to shudder with Chad's breath on her neck. "My mom wanted to spend the day together," she responded.

He kissed Hayley's jaw and said, "That's unfortunate. I've missed my girl."

"It's good to be here."

"Because you missed me?" Chad's hand was inching closer and closer to Hayley's inner thigh. As his fingers created invisible circles, Hayley began to tremble. "Don't be scared. Have I ever hurt you, babygirl?"

Tears pooled in her eyes as she shook her head. She didn't want this, any of it. But she was terrified, to say the least. She wound her arms around his neck and began to sob, her tears falling all over his shirt. As her face rested on his shoulder, he kissed her forehead.

"You looked so pretty with all that makeup on and then you ruined it," he chuckled. "How about you get down?" He pointed at the floor and Hayley obeyed, sliding down to kneel in front of him.

From his desk, he grabbed a package of makeup wipes and took one out to clean her face. He tilted her chin up between his thumb and forefinger and began to wipe at her face. Hayley's tears continued to roll as he did so. She wondered why he had makeup wipes, anyway.

"It's too bad you messed all this up," he told her. He tossed the wipe haphazardly in the direction of the trash can and then proceeded to pull Hayley onto his lap as if she were a child, his hand finding its precious place between her legs once again. His fingers swept their way up to the button of her pants.

"Do you want me to make it better?" he asked. Hayley shook her head. "Oh, come on, doll. You'll love it. You always do."

Hayley's shaking and sobbing worsened when the man slipped his hand into her pants. His fingers were cold and clammy and the grip he had around her waist made it impossible for her to pull away. In a desperate attempt to save herself, she closed her legs and crossed her ankles to lock the position.

"Hayley," Chad said, his voice laced with a warning tone. He moved his hand in attempt to pry her legs open, and in doing so, loosened his grip around her waist. For whatever reason, she took the opportunity to escape his grip after digging her elbow into his rib cage.

Hayley walked quickly out of his office, she knew he would follow her, but not all the way out to her car because everyone would notice. After exiting the building, Hayley broke out into a full sprint.

Her breathing was labored as she continued to sob the entire way back to her Nashville apartment. There was a lot wrong. She felt guilty for lying to Taylor. There was so much she hadn't told him and now she felt as if she had no choice.

She was going to vomit and she could tell. It had to wait, though. She kept telling herself it had to wait. She was suddenly glad that there was a trash can near the front door of her apartment. She ran through the lobby and stumbled her way up the flight of stairs to the second floor. She caught the elevator up after that.

The woman couldn't even get her front door closed before she hunched over and began to retch into the trash can. Having heard her kick the door open, Taylor quickly made his way to the foyer.

"Hayley," he began, his eyes wide because of the picture before him. "Are you okay?"

After she finished, she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, looked into the trash can and said, "'M fine."

Without any obvious emotion, she got up and walked past him. And she continued to walk all the way to her bathroom and closed the door behind her, a loud click of the lock following. She didn't come out of the bathroom for hours, and Taylor could hear her sobbing long after the shower turned off.

When she came out, Hayley sat on the couch and started at the television, which wasn't on. Taylor sat in front of her on the coffee table and put his hand on her knee. "Are you okay?"

She seemed to starts through him as she said, "I wouldn't like you to touch me."


	6. Chapter 6

Taylor shut himself into Hayley's Nashville bedroom and locked the door. He scrolled to find Zac's contact as fast as he could, completely ignorant to the search bar at the top.

"What's up?" Zac answered.

"Did something happen at Hayley's meeting today?" Taylor questioned.

"What meeting?"

Taylor sighed and ran his hand through his hair, pacing the room, and said, "I'm not kidding, Zac, something's wrong."

"Neither am I, Taylor, there was no meeting." On the other end of the phone, Zac rolled his eyes and flopped down onto his couch.

"Hayley went to a meeting at the label today. Didn't you meet her there?" Taylor's pacing stopped and he began to tap his foot impatiently.

"No, I didn't know there was a meeting. What the fuck? She knows she's not supposed to go to them without me. Is she okay?" At this point, Zac was halfway out of his front door. He wasn't sure if he was going to see Hayley or if he was going to kill a man, but he was going somewhere.

Taylor opened the door slightly to peek out at Hayley. She was still staring at nothing. "She's very clearly dissociating on the couch right now. Can you get Cristi over here? Hayley told me not to touch her and I think she should lie down." He thought for a moment and then said, "She also threw up as soon as she got home and it was a little bit scary."

"Shit, okay. I'll get Cristi and we'll head over."

Goodbyes were barely exchanged before Taylor's returned to the living room. He waved his hand in front of Hayley's face. "Are you alright?" he asked her softly.

Hayley didn't answer, she didn't even twitch. Taylor sighed, everything about the situation rendered him helpless. He only hoped Hayley would respond to Cristi or Zac. He only hoped Zac would drive faster. To top it off, he only hoped Hayley's phone would stop buzzing and displaying Chad's name.

After an eternity of silent minutes, Taylor answered the knocking at the door. Zac and Cristi rushed in. Cristi sat on the coffee table in front of Hayley just as Taylor had.

"Hi, sweetie," she cooed, her voice low. "Look, honey, I'm gonna help you to bed." She pulled Hayley up by her hand and led her into the bedroom. Hayley slid into the bed with ease and almost instantly, her eyes snapped back to their focused state.

"Momma," she said quietly. "I've always told him no."

Cristi's heart broke and she wanted to melt into a sad puddle right then and there. But she couldn't, she had bigger problems. Problems that were heavy set and about 6'2" that weren't going to solve themselves.

"It's okay, sweetheart, I know. How about you take a nap? I'll still be here when you get up."

Hayley nodded at her mother and closed her eyes. It was too bad she could still see him, though. Her breathing wouldn't slow because of the image behind her eyelids, so she hummed and hummed and hummed until he faded away.

Back in the living room, Cristi said, "We need to get a lawyer. She needs to switch labels and we need to get that man put away." Zac and Taylor agreed.

Hayley slept all the way past dinner time and no one bothered to disturb her until she shuffled out of her bedroom on her own, wrapped in a blanket. Taylor smiled at her, but it was a sad one. Her face turned red.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. She shook her head. "That's alright. Would you like to talk?"

Hayley nodded sheepishly and walked toward him. When she got to him, she quietly asked, "Can I sit with you?"

Of course, Taylor wasn't going to tell her no. He wasn't exactly sure that they could both fit in the cushioned chair, but he scooted over and patted the space next to him. Hayley sat in a way that made her legs fall across his and she curled into his side. She closed her eyes.

Zac was sitting on the coffee table, his elbows rested on his knees. Cristi moved to sit on the floor in front of the chair. Hayley reached a hand out for her mother to hold.

"Are you ready?" Taylor asked. She nodded. "Can you tell us what happened today?"

"I went to my meeting and he wanted me to sit on his lap and I didn't at first but then when he called me over he just kind of.. pulled me down. He was just asking about what I do in New York and stuff and I started panicking because he was rubbing my leg and moved his hand to close to my- Anyway, I started crying and he said he'd never hurt me and that I ruined my makeup so he cleaned it off for me."

Hayley stopped talking a squeezed her eyelids shut harder than before. She didn't exactly want to cry in front of everyone, but she couldn't stop herself. She took shallow breaths before continuing.

"And then he asked if I wanted him to 'make it better' and I said no, but he tried to touch me anyway and I elbowed him and left really fast."

Taylor kissed Hayley's head. "Why didn't you tell Zac you had a meeting?"

"He told me not to." She glanced down at her lap and sighed.

Zac shook his head and said, "I can't believe that fucker tried to do it a second time."

Hayley felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. She looked up at Taylor. He looked down at her, his eyebrows tightly knitted in confusion. "What?" he asked.

"I lied to you," she confessed quietly.

Taylor shook his head. "What do you mean?"

"I lied to you," she repeated.

"Is it something bad?" he questioned.

She shrugged. "I guess. Isn't any lie?"

"Well, in retrospect, but it could be something we simple as, 'I secretly hate your cooking,' or something much worse. I can't think of anything that you could have lied about." He gave her a small smile. She felt like he believed in her too much.

"Okay, well.." she trailed off, desperate for words to form. She needed something, anything else to say.

Zac spoke before she could think of something. "Taylor," he said, "I appreciate you trying to give her time, but she's clearly stalling. Spit it out, Hayles."

She took a deep breath. Her lips parted and she said barely above a whisper, "He didn't do it just once."


	7. Chapter 7

Hayley yawned and took notice of the strong arms around her. They were stronger than Taylor's, which caused the events of the night before to flood her thoughts. She looked up at Zac's now peaceful face and thanked God that she'd been able to calm him down after he started yelling about how he was going to kill Mr. Gilbert.

Looking around, she found that Taylor had fallen asleep on the armchair furthest from her and Zac. She assumed that her mother was asleep in her room. She'd never imagined that she'd need more than just her bedroom in a home before.

She stretched her arms out, which caused her to wake Zac. She smiled at him. He seemed to search her eyes, which she figured meant he expected her to still feel how she did the day before.

"Good morning," she whispered.

"Morning. Listen, kid, I'm sorry I got so mad last night. I hope I didn't scare you." Truth be told, Zac was sad for her.

Hayley laughed a little and shook her head. "I was just worried that you were going to do something stupid."

Zac sighed and quietly said, "I just don't understand how I didn't know, Hayles."

Hayley shrugged and looked down at her lap. She wasn't sure that talking about it would do Zac any good. "Anyway," she said, "Do you think you'd be willing to come up to New York with us when we go back tomorrow? I'll pay for your flight and hotel room."

Zac laughed, "I can pay for that stuff. I _made_ you, remember?"

"I don't remember you making me, but I do remember you snatching a percentage of my sales," she joked back. He shook his head.

"I created a monster!" he exclaimed with a hearty laugh that scared Taylor awake. "Shit, my bad, dude."

Taylor chuckled and, with a wave of his hand, said, "'S all good. You doin' okay?"

Zac nodded. "I was thinking I should go pick up breakfast for everyone. I think we could all use some pancakes right about now."

Hayley rolled her eyes and said, "Waffles."

"Oh, yeah, princess prefers waffles." He messed Hayley's hair up before pushing himself off the couch. "We'll see what happens."

After Zac left, Hayley hopped over to Taylor and plopped herself down. He winced. She gave him a guilty smile and kissed his cheek.

"I told Zac I want him to come to New York. I'm gonna tell my mom, too. For now, at least." She leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I think that would be good for you. How are you feeling?" He rubbed her back and she hummed happily.

"It feels better to have told someone. I don't really wanna talk about it anymore, though." Taylor nodded. He gave her a goofy smile. "What?"

"Nothing," the brunette chuckled. "It's just that I noticed that you sound more like you did when I first met you."

"Bitchy? Reigning queen of tyranny? Irritable?" she questioned. "Wait, no. You _have_ to mean hungover."

Taylor ignored her laughter and said, "No, I just mean that you have more of an accent here. Either that, or I've just gotten use to you talking like that and hearing everyone else do it too made me notice it more."

Hayley shrugged. "I think I always sound like this."

"It's a cute little twang," Taylor commented.

The couple fell silent for some time, Taylor's eye's glued to Hayley as she nodded her head rhythmically. She did this sometimes, right before she came up with a new idea for a song. He thought it was cute, but that meant almost nothing when he found everything she did to be cute.

"I've got it," she finally said.

"Got what?"

"The bridge for the song." She said it in a way that made him feel like he should have known that. He probably should have.

"Oh. Well what is it?" Hayley cackled and shook her head.

"It's a surprise. All I can tell you is that Nora helped write it." Taylor cocked and eyebrow curiously.

"Is it you repeatedly screaming the word, 'damn?'" he joked.

Hayley practically wheezed with laughter. "No, but that could also work. Is there a story as to how she picked that up?"

"Jana's road rage. That's all I know."

"Have you _heard_ Jana in the car? I'm surprised all Nory caught was damn." Hayley fondly recalled a lunch date she'd had with the woman. That was a fun car ride.

"You can't call her Nory. Only I can."

"I brought pancakes!" Zac's voice rang out. "Hey, where's Momma?"

"Wave a pancake in her face, she'll wake up," Hayley told him.

Zac cringed and said, "Your mom would hit me with her shoe again. My butt hurts just thinking about it."

"She's not here," Taylor informed them. "She left pretty early this morning so she could go feed Alf."

Hayley threw her head back and groaned. "I was supposed to go see him yesterday!"

"It's okay," Taylor told her softly. "You had a crazy day yesterday."

Hayley sighed and chose to ignore Zac saying something about the pancakes getting cold. She FaceTimed her mom to see Alf daily while she was in New York and the one thing she was looking forward to was seeing him. And she forgot? Could he even be considered her dog anymore? What if he forgot about her?

"I know how much you've missed him these last couple of months," Taylor told her as he rubbed her knee. "Maybe we could take him with us. You know, since you want your mom and Zac to go anyway."

Hayley perked up at this suggestion and asked, "Would you really be okay with taking him with us?"

"Of course! I love dogs, I just never got one because they tend to destroy things. Alf seems like a good boy, though." Taylor explained.

"Oh, he's the goodest boy!" Hayley exclaimed. "Nora would love him, he's so soft!"

Taylor shook his head. "Nora will move in with us if Alf is there, you know."

Hayley laughed. "Or beg Justin and Jana for a dog."


	8. Chapter 8

Hayley sat down next to Taylor and began to toy with his curls. Her legs were crossed and she turned her body to lean against the armrest of the couch. Taylor laid his head in her lap and stared up at her. She giggled.

"How was therapy?" he asked, causing her to shrug.

"Good, I guess. We talked about triggers and future stuff." She smiled softly as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Taylor arched an eyebrow curiously. "What kinda future stuff?"

Hayley's smile turned cheeky and she let out a secretive chuckle before saying, "The things I want in life. Don't worry about it."

Taylor raised his hands in defense and laughed. "Fine, not worried about it. Moving on, you saw the lawyer today, right?"

"Oh, yeah! She's looking at my contract to try and get me out of it. If she can't, we have to sue on five counts of sexual assault."

Taylor nodded and reached upward and stroked the side of her face with his index finger. "You even look gorgeous upside down, you know."

She blushed. "Thank you. How was work?"

"Good. Most of my clients had positive things to talk about. That's always nice," he told her.

Hayley nodded and continued to play with Taylor's hair. She loved his curls, they were gorgeous. Eventually she moved her hands down to his cheeks, which she caressed softly. Then, she let her fingers trace his facial features. A smile appeared on her face when her finger ran across his lips.

"Can I help you?" he chucked.

Hayley shook her head. She was just happy to be with him. To her, Taylor had the kind of face she couldn't get tired of seeing. That alone made her happy.

"Hey, you know we aren't actually engaged yet, right?" he questioned. "I'd like to do something nice for you and get a ring, at least."

Hayley rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh. "I don't want that. I could by myself a ring if that's what I wanted, you know. You also don't need a gesture. There's no pressure here, I just want you to love me enough plan a wedding without all that junk."

"So you just want to be able to tell people we're engaged? You don't want anything for it?" he confirmed.

"Exactly." She smiled and then said, "Actually.. I could think of one thing."

"And that is?"

"Your pinky ring!" She beamed as the words left her mouth.

"You're kidding, right? Would that even fit your finger?" he wondered aloud.

Hayley fake gasped. "Are you calling my fingers fat, York?"

Taylor shot up like a rocket and quickly turned to face the blonde woman. "That's definitely not what I'm saying. It's the opposite, actually. You're just so small."

A cheerful laugh danced around the room as her body shook. "I was kidding, don't have a heart attack."

"Oh thank, God! Okay, okay, I'll give you the ring. But just to be clear, you're going to want a wedding band, right?" Hayley nodded with excitement. "Good. So, will you marry me?"

"Of course I will," she giggled. He slid the ring onto her slender finger, almost sure it was going to slide right back off. "Yes! It fits!"

"That's my favorite ring, you know," he commented.

"Your favorite ring that you only wear on weekends," she joked.

"No one would take a therapist with a pinky ring seriously!"

Hayley laughed and shook her head at him. Then, she intertwined her fingers with Taylor's. She used her free hand to snap a picture of their intertwined ones. She thought it was cute.

When Taylor realized what she was doing, he nearly slapped her phone out of her hand. "What are you doing? You can't post that!"

"And why can't I?" she questioned.

"You're not allowed to date, remember? Besides, doesn't it freak you out that hundreds of thousands of people are interested in your life?" Hayley thought carefully and shrugged. He made a valid point.

"Yeah, but who cares about the idiot who made that rule?" she asked. "And not really. Don't you think they deserve an update?"

"You want our hands to be your first Instagram post since before you went under treatment." Taylor's voice was dull, almost as if he were trying to get her to agree that it was a bad idea.

"Yeah, exactly. Look, I'm gonna post it. You should just be glad that it's the hand without the ring. These people are crazy." She squealed as she clicked the post button, excited for the fan response.

A few days later, Hayley and Taylor were at the weekly York family brunch. Beforehand, the men settled in the living room for some coffee while the women were making breakfast. Because he actually enjoyed cooking, Taylor tried to tag along but got kicked out of the kitchen.

Taylor set his coffee cup down on the table and stood up. "I'm gonna go check on Hayley," he said. On his way out, he heard Peter mumble something about using a coaster.

He wrapped his arms around Hayley's waist and kissed her cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder. She leaned back into him and said, "Hey."

"Hello. I just wanted to see how you were doing," he told her softly. She smiled.

"I'm doing great. I don't think I've ever whisked this many eggs, though," she laughed.

"Well there are seven people to feed," he commented.

"Hey," Jana exclaimed, swatting Taylor with an oven mitt, "Get out of the kitchen, you're in my way!"

His fear of Jana drove him to leave Hayley without so much as a goodbye. He'd see her someday, right? Taylor could hear the women laughing as he rushed out of the kitchen.

Though the Yorks were all very happy to hear of Hayley and Taylor's engagement, Peter couldn't help but find something suspicious in it happening so quickly. He beckoned Taylor into the kitchen afterward.

"Engagement?" he questioned. "Why so fast?"

Taylor shrugged and gave a weird laugh. "I love Hayley and I want to be with her. Is that wrong?"

Peter shook his head and proceeded to ask, "Are you sure she's not pregnant or something?"

"Oh my gosh, Dad. I'm sure. She's not pregnant."

"Taylor," he said calmly, "it's okay if she's pregnant."

Taylor thought for a second and then walked outside of the kitchen. "Mom!" he called. When Michelle came, he said, "Tell Dad that Hayley isn't pregnant."

Michelle nodded. "Yeah, Hayley isn't pregnant."

"Okay," Peter decided. He wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but he trusted that at least Michelle knew what she was talking about.


	9. Chapter 9

"Mama, Auntie Hayley is here!" Nora screamed at the top of her lungs one mid afternoon. "She has a doggy!"

Jana came bounding down the stairs and into the foyer where Hayley, Nora, and Alf stood. She smiled at Hayley and then turned her focus to Nora.

"What did I say about opening the front door?" she asked. Nora shrugged.

"I asked who it was." Jana shook her head at the little girl.

Nora sat on the floor in the living room petting Alf. As she did so, she talked to him. Hayley and Jana commenced in their own conversation.

"I've gotta go back to Nashville for a while," Hayley told Jana quietly. "Taylor's kind of upset about it."

She frowned and nodded. "He told Justin he didn't want you to go back."

Hayley assumed that Jana already knew why she was going because she didn't ask. Jana assumed Hayley was going to record her new album. Neither of them could have been more wrong.

"How long are you going to be gone?"

Taylor hadn't asked this question of her. He knew she didn't have the answer. She wasn't sure she'd be back for a while. Things were iffy for her. She had no evidence that Chad had ever done anything to her aside from her testimony and some therapy reports.

"I'm not sure yet."

Jana nodded, almost as if she didn't know what to tell Hayley. There was a nervous sort of tension in the air, but it wasn't coming from Hayley.

After several minutes, Jana spoke up. "I need to ask you about something."

"Okay," Hayley said slowly.

"So, Justin and I have been talking. For a while now, obviously. And I guess usually people go with the same person each time, but I couldn't. I don't know if he's ever told you this, but Taylor is Nora's godfather. Her godmother is an old friend of mine." Jana explained.

Hayley looked over at Nora. "Yeah, he's mentioned it."

"We talked for so long about who we wanted for Ella that we've just now made this decision. I know, she's already five months old, but would you like to be her godmother? We've already asked Taylor." Hayley's jaw literally dropped.

"Are you serious?" she asked. She was sure she'd cry. "Of course!"

Hayley bounced up from her spot on the couch and over to the baby swing that was near Jana. She motioned toward it as if to ask if she could pick the baby up. Jana nodded with a chuckle.

"You're the cutest baby I've ever met!" she cooed.

"Hey!" Nora protested.

"You weren't a baby when I met you! This is not favoritism," Hayley defended.

When Taylor returned home from work, Hayley was sitting on the couch scrolling through her phone with one hand and petting Alf with the other. He kissed her head from behind the couch.

"Whatcha doin'?" he asked.

"Reading comments on that Instagram post," she responded. "There are a lot of guesses as to who the other hand may belong to. Some questions about an album, too. Lotsa people want to see your face."

Taylor hummed curiously and moved to sit on the woman's right side. "Who have they guessed my hand belongs to?"

"Any famous guy I've ever been photographed with. Can I post a picture of us?" she asked.

"Definitely not."

Hayley groaned and opened her camera roll. She scrolled through it, stopping occasionally to show him photos she liked best. Of course, he rejected all of them.

"You've got more pictures of the girls than I do," the brunette commented. Hayley laughed and continued to scroll. "Wait, wait. I like these pictures, you know. I just don't think showing the world my face is a good idea."

Hayley nodded. "Let's take one now. I promise I'll only get the bottom half of your face."

Taylor agreed to Hayley's bargain. She took a photo of them kissing, the top of it reaching just above the tips of their noses. The blonde woman opted to put a black and white filter over it with a caption that called Taylor her 'real world boy.'

The two decided to go out for dinner at Taylor's favorite diner. Without realizing it, they'd made going there a weekly habit. This time, unlike the others, they didn't have their nieces with them. This was fine by Hayley, as she'd recently found that she lived for peaceful one-on-one moments with Taylor.

"You haven't said too much tonight," Taylor noted after taking a drink of his soda.

Hayley nodded as she swallowed a fry she had been eating. "I'm just nervous about everything."

"Ah," he expressed, "I get it. It'll be okay, you know. You guys added emotional distress, right?"

"Yeah. I'm also worried I'll miss you too much. Is that stupid?" Taylor watched her use her straw stir the ice around in her glass.

"Of course not. I'm going to miss you, too, if it helps. And you can always call." He smiled at her from across the table.

Hayley nodded. "I'm gonna FaceTime you every night."

Taylor shook his head and said, "Only if you're not too stressed out or tired."

Hayley whined and lightly kicked him under the table. "You're such a calming person to be around I'm going to call you _especially_ if I'm stressed or tired."

The brunette winced in fake pain. "Okay, do as you wish. But seriously, it'll be fine."

"I don't think it will. I've accepted that." Hayley shrugged and Taylor suddenly recalled her all too nonchalant demeanor in the beginning of their relationship.

"Why?" he questioned.

"We have almost no evidence. And what does it look like when all the other women under him have no complaints?" Hayley rubbed her forehead and sighed.

Taylor realized there was no point in trying to console her when they both knew she was right. "I don't know, babe. But even if this doesn't work, we'll figure something out."

"Yeah. Anyway, what kind of milkshake do we want tonight?" she asked, peeking down at the menu.

"It's your turn to pick, baby." Hayley grinned at him because they both knew that it had been 'her turn' the last two times they'd gone. Taylor figured picking the flavor would take her mind off of things for at least the ten minutes that was wasted with her indecisiveness.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hayley 7:34 p.m.**   
**_you have got to be fucking kidding me_ **

Taylor's eyes widened at the sight of Hayley's text. He hadn't talked to her earlier in the day because she'd been so busy, so she couldn't have been mad at him, right?

**_Hayley would like to FaceTime_ **

He sighed and slid to answer. "Hi, baby," he greeted.

Hayley's angry expression softened immediately. "Hey."

"What's wrong?"

Hayley's eyes were drawn away from her phone for a second and she seemed to nod to someone off camera. "Today, it was pointed out that I couldn't _possibly_ be too emotionally distressed since I feel comfortable enough to post pictures of me kissing some guy on Instagram!"

"Well, that doesn't necessarily mean you're not distressed. How do they even support that?" Taylor questioned. Hayley rolled her eyes and she shrugged at him. "What did your lawyer dispute?"

"That my outside relationships are irrelevant to the situation. She also pointed out that I never felt comfortable enough to actually pursue a relationship until I had been away from Mr. Gilbert for months."

Taylor nodded. "That's pretty true."

"By the way, did you know that there's probably camera footage of some of that stuff? Go figure, he legally owns it."

"And you need it." Hayley nodded and rubbed her face.

"Isn't that just _great_? Anyway, can I see my dog please?"

Taylor called Alf and held him in his lap while Hayley baby talked him. Eventually, Alf went away and Hayley's expression returned to its original upset state. Taylor pouted at her.

"Baby, don't worry so much. Maybe the other women will turn out to be helpful," he suggested.

Hayley looked off camera again and said, "Oh my gosh, thanks so much! Could you get my little stand thingy please? You're amazing, I love you!"

Taylor couldn't really distinguish the voice on the other end. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Zac just brought me dinner! He's now going to get my phone stand so I can talk to you while I eat!" explained Hayley.

"Ah, okay. When he gets back, tell him I said hi!"

Zac came in and Taylor waited patiently while Hayley attached her phone to the stand. The two adults on the other end of Taylor's phone chatted for a couple of minutes about the plan for the following morning and then Zac told both of them goodbye and left them to talk. Hayley paused opening her food container to blow Taylor a kiss.

"Oh, Zac got me pasta!" She let out a surprised laugh at the sight of her favorite Italian meal. "He knows me too well. Anyway, how was your day today?"

"It was good, I think. It was the same as always except you weren't there when I got home." Hayley stopped eating to pout at him. "Apparently no one told Nora that you wouldn't be here when she came to visit today, so some tears were shed."

Hayley let out a short laugh. "Aw, poor baby. The good news is that I'll be home Thursday night, so you can tell her that! Maybe specify that it's just for the weekend though."

"That would get her excited, so maybe I should." Taylor nodded with his words.

"Hey, tonight was diner night, what did you do?" She wondered if Taylor would go and sit in a diner by himself if she weren't there.

"Well, luckily, Nora was able to accompany me to the diner. It wasn't as fun, but I think it'll have to do for now, right?" Taylor gave her a hopeful smile.

"Yeah! I'll be home before you know it!"

Hayley was genuinely happy to talk to Taylor. She missed his face and it felt like nothing else mattered when she was looking at him, even if it were just through a phone screen.

Before Hayley went to bed, a lot of the time the couple spent on FaceTime together was a comfortable silence. Taylor occupied himself with patient files as Hayley ate and occasionally, they'd catch each other's eye and smile.

The next day, Hayley FaceTimed Taylor as he was packing up his work stuff. He answered immediately, of course. "Hey, beautiful! How'd it go today?"

"Good in the sense that I might have gained some sympathy from the judge. Bad in the sense that I humiliated myself." She had this look on her face that sort of said she wasn't sure.

"What did you do?" he asked. Hayley found herself mesmerized by the bounce of his curls as he made his way out to his car.

"I was supposed to be giving a testimony, but they had to call an emergency recess because I started having a panic attack. Can you _believe_ that?" Hayley shook her head, seemingly at herself.

"Hang on a second," Taylor told her. He shoved his phone into the mount on the dashboard of his car and started the engine. "Okay, so you had a panic attack. What did you do?"

"The lawyer had to call Jennifer!" Taylor could hear Hayley slam her refrigerator door shut.

"Are there glass bottles in your refrigerator?" he questioned. The sound struck him with concern.

"Yeah, why?"

Taylor figured him asking that didn't need an explanation, it seemed pretty self explanatory. But, he chose to humor Hayley anyway. "Do you mind me asking what those glass bottles are?"

Hayley rolled her eyes and looked at Taylor as if he were stupid. "I drink a shit ton of Perrier, alright?"

"Okay, I just wanted to know."

"Whatever."

Taylor sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? I just worry about you and I don't remember Perrier being in there when I was in Nashville with you."

"There's this thing called a grocery store. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

She didn't wait for Taylor to say anything back, she just hung up. The truth was, Hayley didn't _exactly_ blame him for asking about the bottles. It bothered her, though, that he seemed to think she wasn't trustworthy or something.

Taylor, on the other hand, felt really bad about asking. He regretted it and he really didn't want her to be upset with him for it. Still, he texted her goodnight and that he loved her before he went to bed.

**Taylor 10:23 p.m.**   
**_You don't have to answer if you don't want to but goodnight_ **

**Taylor 10:24 p.m.**   
**_I love you_ **

Hayley felt that it didn't matter if he made her mad or not. She wasn't going to ignore him telling her he loved her. That'd just be horrible because the fact that she was mad didn't change how she felt about him.

**Hayley 10:25 p.m.**   
**i love you too. never think that i would ignore you saying that.**


	11. Chapter 11

**_light smut warning_ **

Hayley flew back to New York for the weekend. She wasn't sure if she missed Taylor or Alf more, but they were in the same place and that was the best thing to come home to for her.

Not long after she had gotten to Taylor's apartment, they were cuddling together in bed. The apartment was quiet, because neither half of the couple had concern for anything except each other. With her face buried in Taylor's neck, Hayley let out a content hum.

Suddenly, she pulled her face away to look at Taylor and said, "Being gone made me think about how much I can't stand being without you."

Taylor nodded and squeezed her a little tighter. "Yeah, I missed you so badly."

Hayley averted her eyes and began to pick at the fabric of the blanket. "It also made me think about us and how we are right now." She paused for a moment, which made Taylor nervous. "And I have decided that I want to try and have sex."

"Oh," said Taylor, his heart rate calming. "I thought you were going to say something bad. Are you sure?"

Hayley nodded. "I want to."

Realization hit. "Now?"

Hayley nodded and Taylor cleared his throat awkwardly. He looked at her for a moment and sighed.

"The problem is: I don't have condoms. And it's kind of late, so I can't go buy any." he explained.

This was all true. Hayley had caught a late flight and after landing, it was late enough for she and Taylor to just go home and climb into bed. Taylor couldn't name a store that would still be open at such an hour.

"You don't have condoms," Hayley repeated in disbelief.

"No. I hadn't expected you to want to have sex for a while and I didn't exactly find myself having one night stands before we started dating."

Hayley nodded and then tapped her fingers against his chest. She didn't know what to do because she really hadn't thought that far. So, she didn't say anything.

"Besides, are you sure you want to skip straight to sex? Maybe tonight, we should try some lighter stuff and then I can go get condoms tomorrow on my way home from work."

Hayley considered his suggestion. Taylor was the logical one, so she agreed. That seemed pretty harmless to her.

"Okay, we can do that," she told him. Suddenly, they were both glad they were already in their underwear.

So, Taylor kissed her. Slowly, he moved to her neck and down her collar bone. Hayley melted each time his lips brushed her skin.

Soon enough, his lips were back on hers. She tangled her hands in his hair as his fingers began to roam her body. When Taylor slipped his fingers under the fabric of Hayley's panties, her breathing hitched. For any normal person, this would have signaled that they were aroused, but not for Hayley.

She tried to calm herself, but with each stroke of her core, Hayley could feel panic rising inside of her. Taylor, however, was none the wiser.

Finally, she pushed at him and gasped out, "No, no!" Immediately, Taylor moved himself off of her and stroked her hair.

"It's okay, it's okay," he repeated. "You don't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Taylor shook his head.

"Don't be. I'm very glad that you were able to say something."

He knew she didn't mean to cause it, but sadness pulled at Taylor when Hayley turned away from him and hugged the blanket closer to her. So, he got up and pulled some pajamas out for her.

"I'm gonna put some shorts and a shirt right here in case you feel the need to put some on. I'm gonna sleep on the couch tonight, alright?"

She didn't answer, so he just grabbed his pillows and went downstairs. Alf was on the couch, so he shooed him off and grabbed the blanket that was hanging over the back. Overall, he just felt really bad.

In the morning, he got ready for work as quietly as possible. Before he left, he gently shook Hayley awake. Her eyes fluttered open and softened at the sight of Taylor.

"I'm going to work. I love you." He kissed her forehead and left.

Hayley slept most of the day away, but managed to be awake by the time Taylor got home. He walked through the door with his bag for work in one hand and a plastic bag from a store in the other.

"Hey," Hayley greeted. "Whatcha got there?"

"Hello! Nothing out of the ordinary. You know, condoms, your favorite candy, some treats for Alf." Taylor's tone made Hayley laugh. "The cashier was definitely judging me."

"You got them? Good, because I want to try again tonight!" Taylor sighed at her.

"Are you sure you don't just want the candy and to move on?"

Hayley shook her head and said, "No, no I get it now! I think it'll work this time. I thought about it a lot today and everything _should_ be fine if you don't put your hands... _there._ Or at least keep it to a minimum."

Taylor could tell Hayley had thought a lot about this, so as always, he agreed. All the way up until they got in bed that night, Hayley was antsy.

Taylor explained to Hayley that he thought it would benefit her to be on top, so that she felt she had control over the situation. She agreed, but asked that he sat as upright as possible as well. Taylor agreed to this request.

He was sitting against the headboard of his bed when he helped her lower herself onto him. She winced.

"Are you okay?" he questioned.

Hayley nodded and said, "It's a little painful, is all."

Taylor nodded. "Try rolling your hips slowly." Hayley followed his instructions and after she'd done so a few times, she let out a pleased whimper and leaned her body against his to support herself and pick up the pace.

When Hayley woke up, she was pressed against Taylor's chest as usual, except there was a lot more skin. She looked up at him and saw that his neck had a few dark splotches on it, which made her laugh.

"What?" he asked, his eyes still closed. This startled her a little.

"You've got a bunch of hickeys. But hey, we did it!" She grinned triumphantly and Taylor chucked.

"I definitely don't have more than you do. Listen, you can't tell Nora you burned yourself with a curling iron because she'll ask you how you did that all over your neck and collarbone.. and your chest." Hayley glanced down at her chest and gasped.

"I'm glad you had fun, York. Now I gotta use a whole bottle of concealer just to go see our nieces today!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Taylor 6:53 a.m.**   
**_Do NOT let H see any tabloids or gossip pages_ **

Zac wished more than anything that he hadn't slept through this text. But he did, so by the time he'd seen it, Hayley already knew. And she was panicking, so she paced and paced and paced.

"Hey! Stop pacing!" Zac commanded. "You're making _me_ nervous!"

"The man tried to _kill himself_ because of me, Zac!" Hayley yelled.

Zac shook his head and said, "No, he tried to kill himself because his career is crumbling now that the world knows he's a disgusting pig who deserves to die!"

"He does _not_ deserve to die!" Hayley collapsed down onto her couch. "This is my fault."

"That's it, I'm calling Taylor."

Taylor answered immediately. "You fucked up, didn't you?"

"She saw everything before I saw your text, that's not my fault!" Zac whined.

"Okay, well, how is she?" Taylor asked.

"She's panicked. Look, I'm gonna put you on speaker phone and _you_ tell her not to send him flowers." Zac pressed the speaker button on his phone and said, "You're on."

"Hayley," Taylor said slowly, "you do whatever it is that you feel will bring you closure."

"Thank you, baby!" Hayley called out.

"Okay, then maybe you should tell her to stop saying she needs a drink," Zac said. Hayley punched Zac in the arm for telling Taylor that. "Nice try, tiny fists."

"Hayley, you better be kidding," Taylor said. "And if you're kidding, it's not funny."

"I'm not kidding, I'm stressed!" she yelled. It sounded more like a screech.

Taylor sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Hayley, I really need you to calm down. He didn't die, so that's an upside, right? Because you don't want him to die."

The blonde woman said, "I get that, but I'm ruining this man's life."

"He _hurt you,_ Hayley, don't you get that?" Zac yelled. And then Taylor heard him say, "No, no, don't cry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you."

"Zac, I have an appointment, I'll call back in a little." With that, Taylor went back to work.

Zac sat down on the couch next to Hayley and pulled her close. She curled up to him and began to sob. Zac suddenly realized he could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen the young woman cry.

"I'm sorry, Hayles. I know you feel bad, but it's really not your fault. He deserves to feel guilty for what he did to you." Hayley didn't say anything or react to him, so he kept going. "You can send flowers, okay? You can send as many flowers as you want as long as you wait until after the trial."

Hayley nodded and then stayed curled up to Zac for a really, really long time. At some point, she fell asleep and Zac covered her in a blanket, allowing her to sleep through the night on her couch.

She woke up to the sound of a phone ringing. It was hers. "Hello?" she answered groggily.

"Hi, is this a bad time?" her lawyer asked. Hayley was suddenly alert.

"No, not at all. What's up?" Her words were rushed with anxiety.

"Well, I got a call last night. You're probably not gonna like this, but, you were named in Chad's suicide note. He wrote a confession, basically. Which, by the way, I'm sure the judge knows of. Because he's in the hospital, the rest of the trial is going to be postponed, but it's looking good on our end."

Hayley's body drained of all nervousness. It was only Tuesday, so that meant one thing for her.

"Does that mean I can go home like.. tonight?" she asked.

After it was confirmed that she could go home, but she definitely needed more than one bodyguard, she booked a flight. She was told that her bodyguards had to actually go to New York with her rather than just to board the plane as usual. She found this annoying, though, because the airport she flew to wasn't very big and was in a relatively small city. Not to mention, Taylor's town was even tinier.

"You don't have to come to my boyfriend's house, do you?" Hayley questioned as a guard ushered her into the backseat of a car. They were on their way to Taylor's apartment.

He laughed and shook his head. "Mr. Farro said we only have to accompany you places."

"Does that include the homes of my boyfriend's family members?" she asked. When he nodded, Hayley sighed and mumbled, "I officially hate Zac."

After they walked her up to Taylor's door with her bags, they left, but not before telling Hayley she absolutely _had_ to call them when she planned on leaving. She was extremely unhappy about the entire situation. Taylor seemed amused.

"So now you have a permanent security crew," he joked. Hayley gave his shoulder a playful shove.

"The media is after me right now," she told him. "Maybe you can bore them away."

"I know the media is after you. Which reminds me. With all the media coverage, I've gotten quite a few calls from Jana and my dad and even Chris. They're all very concerned."

Hayley sighed. She'd never really thought about the fact that Taylor's family would find out about the case or any of what she'd been through. Being famous made her feel different than all of them already and them knowing everything just made it worse.

"I guess if they ask about it I can just be honest," she told him. "But I'm not going to bring it up first."

Taylor agreed with her and suggested that they head to bed. Hayley was excited to just cuddle with the man. She'd missed him far too much the first time she'd gone to Nashville and the feeling only worsened after they'd had sex. Since then, she'd become even more attached to him. Not that Taylor minded, of course.

While in bed, Taylor let his hand slip up the back of Hayley's shirt. Softly, he dragged his fingers up and down her spine. The very action gave her chills and after a while, lulled her to sleep. With her cheek pressed against his shoulder and her hand softly rested on his chest, she slept better than ever before.


	13. Chapter 13

When Jana opened her front door, she gave Hayley and Taylor each a strange look. Hayley smiled sheepishly, all too aware of the two bodyguards behind her and Taylor. Jana waved all four bodies inside almost unwillingly, taking note of the two men who stopped as soon as they got inside of the front door.

"Are those bodyguards?" Jana whispered to Taylor when they got to the living room. Hayley had stayed back to chat with the two men for a short minute.

"Yeah, she has to have them now because the press stuff is all really crazy," the curly-headed man explained. Jana nodded, her eyes on the doorway.

Hayley came in all on her own and smiled at Jana as if nothing was different. "Where are the girls?"

"Justin took them to the store with him. I _think_ he's got a gift for you." She winked at Hayley. "You know, 'cause we love you."

Hayley smiled in an attempt to hide a nervous gulp. She knew that things were weird because they'd all recently found out about the court case and she assumed that they were trying to make things a little better. Love from the Yorks always seemed to make things a little better.

"Anyway," Taylor said, "Hayley's here to proposition you."

Hayley's eyes widened as Taylor nudged her forward. "Um," she cleared her throat and let out a small laugh. "Of course I'm not here _just_ to proposition you, but that was supposed to happen at some point today."

"Please, do tell," the woman urged. She was very intrigued by Hayley's sudden shyness.

"Listen," she began, "I know you know about the court case."

Jana seemed pretty unfazed by Hayley's bluntness. She shrugged and then nodded.

"I wanted to ask if you and the girls would mind coming back to Nashville with me tomorrow night. I know, it's short notice and all, but Taylor has appointments and stuff so he can't come with me and I just feel like you all keep me so grounded and I just- I'm having a _really_ hard time."

Jana looked over at her brother in law, who was looking at Hayley with both love and intense worry. Suddenly, he looked over at her, his eyes pleading. She knew she couldn't say no.

"From me, I'm going to tell you yes. I have to talk to Justin about it, though." She smiled softly at the blonde woman and then asked, "Do you need a hug?"

Hayley nodded and allowed her body to be embraced. She felt comforted for a small amount of time before she heard the front door kick open. "Jana, what the _hell_?" Justin yelled out.

All three adults rushed to the foyer to see Justin carrying Ella in one arm and some bags in his other. Nora was staring up at one of the bodyguards. Hayley flashed him a guilty smile.

"I _may_ be the reason there are two large men in your house," she said.

"Mhm, yeah, no I thought it was _Taylor_ who needed bodyguards." The man rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Hayley, I forget that you're famous."

Hayley grinned and wiped away fake tears. "That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me."

The group of people trailed each other into the living room. Everyone except the bodyguards, that is. Justin didn't bother to touch the bags he came in with after he set them down.

"So, Jan," the man started, "I kinda dropped the ball on something you asked me to do."

Jana waited for him to explain what it was he hadn't done. There was this kind of look on her face that both Hayley and Taylor assumed they would only understand after being married and having kids. They were right.

After explaining to Jana that he managed to forgot she asked him to give Nora a bath when they got up that morning, Justin gave his wife a guilty smile. The small child was sitting on Taylor's lap, so he jokingly sniffed her and scoffed in disgust. Nora called him a meanie.

"This is good, though, right?" he asked. "Because now, Hayley can give Nora a bath and you and I can look at the things I bought at the store!" So, while Hayley set Nora in the bath, the couple were emptying bags.

While Hayley was tying her cardigan around her waist, Nora said, "I know how to swim! Wanna see?"

Hayley's eyes moved over to the little girl. "That's very cool, but the bath tub isn't exactly a good place to swim in. You can show me some other time, though."

When she was done, Hayley wrapped Nora in her hooded shark towel, which matched Nora's shark loofah. Nora loved sharks, it was her relatively new thing. Hayley thought it was cute.

"Okay," Hayley said after helping Nora pull on underwear. "Let's get some shorts and a cool shirt from your closet."

She turned and opened Nora's closet doors and spent a fairly short amount of time picking out a pink pair of shorts and yellow tank top that seemed to match pretty well. When she turned around, however, Nora and her shark towel were gone. She grumbled to herself a few curse words and then made her way back out to the living room where Nora was sitting next to Taylor in her underwear, her shark hood on her head. Neither of them had seen her yet.

"But I don't think that Auntie Hayley likes ketchup that much, so why do you want to marry her?" Nora was asking. Hayley stayed silent.

"Nora, don't be silly. _Obviously_ if you love ketchup you're supposed to marry someone who doesn't. That way, they give you all of their ketchup. I couldn't possibly marry someone who wanted _my_ ketchup, could I?" Taylor's serious expression amused Hayley, especially when Nora nodded to show that this was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

"Nora, there you are! I've been looking all over for you!" Hayley exclaimed.

Nora shrugged and said, "Well, not _all_ over, 'cause you didn't check here."

"You're riding to Nashville in my suitcase because of that sass right there."


	14. Chapter 14

"This is it!" Hayley grinned as she kicked open the door to her Nashville apartment.

She allowed Jana in first because she was carrying Ella. Then, she allowed Nora in, but she didn't consider how clumsy Nora would be and forgot to tell her to watch the decorative table in the entryway.

"Nora!" Hayley exclaimed when she saw her favorite vase shatter against the hardwood flooring. Nora began to cry and Hayley rushed to pick her up. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," she choked out.

And Hayley, not being so upset because she knew Nora hadn't done it on purpose, squeezes the young girl tight. Besides, it wasn't irreplaceable. Jana, however, was apologizing profusely.

"Look, Nora, it's just a vase, see?" she stomped her shoe down on one of the larger shards a couple times to prove that she wasn't mad. "I just want to make sure you're safe."

After Hayley finished sweeping up the shards, she went to find Jana in her bedroom. Ella was laid on the bed and Nora was playing with her, giggles coming from both girls. Hayley smiled at the sight.

"All settled?" she asked. Jana was on the floor, rummaging through her suitcase.

"Yup!" Jana exclaimed. "Thanks again for getting a bassinet for Ella."

"I just want to make sure everything is easy and comfortable for you."

She found what she was looking for, which just seemed to be a pile of stuff for Ella. As she puts everything else back in she said with a laugh, "It's a lot. Why is your bed so huge?"

Though her back was turned, Hayley shrugged. "I'm not gonna lie, I just handed over money for all of this. Someone else designed it. I didn't pick the bed, but it's comfortable and Taylor likes it, so.."

Jana turned around to face Hayley, a smirk plastered on her face. In a split second, Hayley realized what she'd just accidentally insinuated, her eyes wide.

"Oh, God, no! Jana!" she whined. "I didn't mean it like that!"

Jana laughed and hummed, "Mhm."

And Hayley whined out in defense, "We haven't! Not here!"

"You haven't what?" Nora asked.

Jana gave Hayley a look that said she had to answer. Hayley didn't have a good answer.

"We haven't..." Hayley was at a loss for words. "We haven't.. gone to the mall! Let's get ready!"

From the bathroom, Hayley could hear Nora giggling with Jana as they got dressed. She was on the phone with the head of her security team as she slicked her hair back into a ponytail. She described their plan for the day and he let her know that two guards would be there immediately.

"I still can't believe you bought car seats for them," Jana laughed when she and Hayley buckled the kids into the seats in Hayley's car. Hayley rolled her eyes and laughed. Jana knew she adored the girls.

On the way to the mall, Hayley explained the whole, 'don't say Taylor's name in public,' ordeal she was about to put them through. They all decided they could call him T, but to try and keep it as discreet as possible. Hayley was sure Nora would slip up at some point in the day. Nora's big mouth was no secret.

Jana wore Ella on her chest in a baby sling and Hayley held Nora's hand tightly as they entered the shopping center. Before they'd even decided what store to go to, someone was already asking Hayley if she could take a picture with them. Of course, she said yes.

When Nora pointed out the Build-A-Bear Workshop, Hayley had to let her get a bear. It was just too irresistible. Jana shunned Hayley silently for spoiling the three-year-old.

"Hey," Hayley whispered to Nora as they inspected types of bear. "Should I make a bear for Uncle T?"

With Nora's approval, Hayley was soon following closely in Nora's steps, making a bear of her own. Jana didn't join the festivities.

"What are you naming your bear?" Hayley asked Nora. "I'm naming mine Samantha."

"Grape!"

For some reason, Hayley wasn't surprised that Nora named her purple bear Grape. It was just so... her. Next, Hayley suggested they go to the Disney store.

Nora ran into the store, one of Hayley's guards following closely behind her as the other stayed with Hayley and Jana. Hayley sighed as Jana held her elbow.

As expected, Jana said, "You're spoiling her."

"No, I'm buying her a few things, Jan. You can always tell me when enough is enough," Hayley explained. "But I love your girls so much and am more than happy to buy stuff for them."

"Fine, fine. Don't let her get more than one thing."

Hayley grinned and sang, "Loophole!"

She ran into the store and before Jana could catch up, told Nora to pick any one thing from the entire store that she wanted. Nora squealed and returned to looking around.

"Auntie Hayley!" Nora screeched from across the store. "This!"

Nora was pointing at a Frozen playset. It was Elsa's ice castle and Hayley said yes before Jana could say no. She kindly asked a guard to carry it to the register.

"Hayley that thing is almost three hundred dollars."

With a short laugh, Hayley walked away. Also at the register was some stuff Hayley obviously picked for Ella. Jana groaned.

Some odd hours later, Nora had grown tired and demanded that Hayley carry her. While Nora slept in Hayley's arms, they looked around stores that Nora wouldn't have wanted to go into.

"Hayley? Can I take a picture with you?"

Hayley spun around to face the voice, her own cheeks a soft pink from having been caught poking around piles of lingerie with Jana. She looked down at Nora and then up at her bodyguard pleadingly. He gently scooped the young girl into his arms.

"You look so pretty today! Is she your goddaughter or something?" The girl seemed young like she was barely an adult.

"She's my niece," Hayley said quietly, "her little sister is my goddaughter."

When they finally got back to Hayley's apartment, they were exhausted. Hayley especially, considering the fact that she carried Nora for so long as well as took pictures with what felt like a billion people. Still, she made the effort to call Taylor.

"I trust you had a good day," he said, a smile audibly on his lips.

"Mhm," Hayley hummed. "And guess what?"

"What?"

"You're a dad now, congrats!"

Taylor seemed to choke on air on the other side of the line and gasped out a strained, "Huh?"

"I made a Build-A-Bear for us! Her name is Samantha, but you can call her Sammy." Hayley giggled giddily and Taylor sighed with relief.

"Please find it in your heart to never scare me like that again."


	15. Chapter 15

"The internet is abuzz again," Hayley announced as she scrolled through her Instagram comments. Ella gurgled up at her. "I know, right?"

Hayley found herself having a conversation with the infant for the umpteenth time that day. Although Ella was unable to form actual words, Hayley still enjoyed the company.

The pair had been home alone, Jana and Nora out on the town. She insisted they go out that morning because it wasn't fair to make them stay in because she was in a slump. Jana texted her multiple times to check in, though. Hayley was grateful.

"Hey, how was the zoo?" Hayley asked when she opened to the door to Jana and Nora. Nora bounced across the threshold and hugged Hayley's legs.

"Fun!" Nora squealed. "There were a lot of monkeys!"

Jana urged Nora to go play and pulled Hayley into the kitchen. Hayley tried her best to look 100% better, but she couldn't. Jana smiled at her sadly.

"How are you feeling?" Jana asked.

"Like a grown man who preyed on me when I was 18 is constantly looming over me," she grumbled. Then she quickly spoke, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

Jana brushed some hair behind the woman's ear. "It's okay. I asked how you felt and that's a pretty heavy feeling that you have the right to have. How can I help?"

Hayley looked at the tile on the floor. She tapped the floor with the tip of her toe a few times. "Ella and I had a great day today. I like that she laughs so much."

Jana nodded, almost as if she were nodding to herself. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, that's okay. So, you're right, she does laugh a lot. Nora was a lot quieter."

Hayley nodded and turned around on her heel. On her way out of the kitchen, she said, "We should watch a movie."

The two women regretted agreeing to watch Frozen with Nora half an hour in. As it turned out, it was really easy to get burned out on the film. Hayley, having tried to make Nora as happy as possible, had agreed to watch it three nights in a row. She regretted buying the movie as a whole.

As cute as little Nora was while singing about being a happy snowman, Hayley had to escape, so she stole off to the kitchen. She popped more popcorn while she was there and sat on the island across from the microwave, watching it pop blankly.

"Hey, Hayley, here," Jana said, causing Hayley to jump in fright. She took the ringing phone, ignoring Jana's questioning eyes. Suddenly, she was unsure as to how she didn't hear the ringing amplify as it neared her.

"Uh, hey," she answered. "What's up?"

"Gilbert changed his plea. There's a court date on Thursday and the judge will do his thing and it's all over," her lawyer spoke. Hayley couldn't match her excitement by half.

"That's it?" she wondered aloud, tears threatening to spill out of the corners of her eyes.

"That's it."

When Hayley hung up, tears began to stream as she hiccuped some sort of laugh. "That's it."

She laughed in disbelief for a solid minute, Jana staring at her curiously. Afterward, the older woman embraced her tightly. In doing so, Jana unknowingly released all of Hayley's tensions.

"It's almost over," the blonde mumbled as she pulled the popcorn out of the microwave, a dazed look cast upon her face once more. She repeated the phrase several times.

Thursday, having just been two nights away, came faster than Hayley felt prepared for. So, when Jana wished her a 'good luck' before she left that morning, Hayley almost vomited on herself.

The judge needed no more convincing. Hayley had won the case and there was no other decision that could have been logical. Unfortunately for Chad, that led to him having his own court dates for sentencing. That, however, was neither Hayley's business nor her problem.

"I can't believe all you sued for was to be freed of your contract," Jana said on the car ride to her home.

"Well, the only thing he had that I wanted was my freedom. So I'm happy. Especially to be back in New York." She smiled out of the window and the passing town around her.

After Jana pushed open the door to her home, Hayley tackled Taylor in a hug. He laughed and then hummed happily as he breathed in the smell of her shampoo. "I missed you," he mumbled.

Hayley didn't respond because her face was buried in his chest. Soon enough, she pulled away and grinned up at him. She was almost sure she'd never been happier.

"Can we go home?" she asked. "I really think there's a lot we haven't thought through or even planned out."

"Uh, yeah, I guess?" He seemed genuinely confused as to what she meant but agreed nonetheless.

"I also miss my dog, let's go!"

Almost immediately after they got home, Hayley and Alf took over Taylor's bed. Taylor rolled his eyes and stood, his hands on his hips, at the foot of the bed.

"Did you forget that Alf wasn't the only one who missed you?" he quipped.

"Well I really only came back for Alf," she retorted.

"Uh huh," Taylor hummed. "So you're engaged to Alf?"

"I may be."

Taylor thought for a second about a response. He had several, of course, but decided to tease with, "That's interesting because I don't think you texted Alf about how badly you wanted him to-"

"Okay!" Hayley shouted, an embarrassed laugh rolling off her tongue. Taylor laughed at the redness in her face. He didn't expect her to so calmly respond with, "Well?"

The brunette cleared his throat and asked, "Well, what?"

Hayley pushed herself up on her elbows. "Are you going to?" she asked.

Taylor's eyes widened. "Do- do you want me to?"

"I wouldn't text it if I didn't mean it, would I?" She smirked at him and beckoned him with a single finger. For the first time, Taylor found that he was nervous because of Hayley's newfound confidence.


	16. Chapter 16

Hayley shuffled into the bathroom, her eyes half-closed to compensate for the brightness of the light. Halfway through brushing her teeth, her eyes fell down on her jewelry tray that sat next to her bottle of face wash. Immediately, her eyes widened and she clamped her mouth around the brush to support it as she rummaged through the dish.

"What the fuck?" she gurgled around the toothbrush.

She sifted through the dish again before desperately scouring the countertop. After hearing her frantically open and shut cabinets and drawers, Taylor popped his head in the bathroom.

"Are you okay?" he questioned.

Hayley gasped in fright and turned around. She quickly yanked the toothbrush out of her mouth and spit into the sink. "Mhm."

She smiled at him, baring all of her teeth. Taylor nodded with a small smile tugging at his lips. "If you say so."

A few seconds after hearing Taylor call that he was going to take Alf for a walk, Hayley cautiously creeped out of the bathroom and picked up her phone. Jana picked up almost instantly.

"Hello?" the woman said groggily.

"Hey, I can't find my ring! I had it on at dinner last night, right?" Hayley tapped her fingers against the wall.

"Which ring?"

The blonde woman took a deep breath. "It's uh, it's the ring Taylor gave me. You know, the engagement ring."

"Oh.. that one. You had it on, yeah. Maybe you went to the bathroom and left it on the counter. Michelle would have kept it for you. You should ask her."

After quickly calling Michelle to no avail, Hayley mentally kicked herself for being so careless. She wasn't sure that Taylor wouldn't be mad at her, but there wasn't anything she could do but fret until she remembered where she left it. So, she sat on their bed in her pajamas and rested her chin in her hand, her elbows supported by her knees.

When Taylor returned, he called out for his fiance. She called back to him that she was just up the stairs, but she sounded awfully disappointed.

As he made his way up the stairs he said, "I hope you're dressed, there's a spontaneous family lunch today." And then he stopped. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just thinking." She gave him a small smile and stood up. "Wanna pick my outfit?"

"Hayley, remember that relationships are built on trust and communication. But okay, I'll pick your outfit." He chuckled to himself and moved toward their closet.

She leaned back on her hands and relaxed a little, the idea of losing the ring slipping her mind. She smiled as she saw Taylor pull out a yellow sundress with flowers. Secretly, it was her favorite clothing article because the sleeves turned to waterfalls at her elbows and it flowed longer in the back than the front. She hummed happily when he pulled out her brown ankle boots that had block heels.

"Good?" He asked as he strolled over to her. She hummed again and he leaned down to kiss her. "See, I have a fashion sense."

He kissed her again and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to add more depth. He hadn't prepared himself for her to tug him down, so he fell a little ways on top of her. He felt her laugh against his lips and pull on him again, this time her hips left the bed and brushed briefly with his as a soft moan left her lips.

Taylor pulled away. "No, nope. We've gotta get going. Come on." 

Hayley whined dramatically, "You were on top! Seriously?" Taylor laughed.

"It's not a matter of who's on top, it's a matter of how much time we have. Sadly, we have to go."

In the car, Taylor said. "By the way, your mom is probably going to be there. Mom wanted to see her again and I told her that she could bring Zac along because I didn't want her to be the only non-York."

"I'm not a York," Hayley said, but it came out like a question.

"You're an honorary York."

After lunch, the group decided to hang out for a while. At some point during the clamor, Taylor cleared his throat. Hayley barely noticed the rest of the room pause their conversations to listen. After some silence, he said, "So I _may_ have lied to you."

Hayley's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Okay," she said slowly, "what about?"

"This wasn't exactly a spontaneous lunch. I knew about it."

Hayley laughed a little. "Well that's a trivial thing to lie about, babe."

Taylor nodded and rubbed his hands together in attempt to get rid of the sweat that had collected on his palms. "Yeah, but I wanted it to be surprise. I just wanted you to know that I'm absolutely in love with you. I've never been this happy, you can ask anyone. I've never loved anyone like I love you. In fact, I'm not even sure I was breathing before I met you. You're definitely a level on your own. That being said," He pushed himself of off the sofa and onto one knee after reaching into his pocket. "I know you don't like all the big gestures and stuff, but will you marry me?"

Hayley laughed, her eyes brimming with tears, and shoved his shoulder. "I was looking for that ring all morning, you piece of shit! Yes, I'll marry you!"

He laughed and got up to hug her. "Yeah, but you didn't ask me if I'd seen it, now did you?"

Hayley murmured, "I hate you," in his chest.

When they go home, Hayley sat down on the couch and said, "Let's talk. We need to figure out how this is gonna work."

"How what will work?" He asked, taking a seat next to her.

"I know you love your career and I want you to be happy with the choices you make." She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued, "But I can't keep leaving you to go to Nashville to make music. Not for weeks and months at a time."

Taylor took her hand in his. "Hayley, I said I would follow you anywhere."

"But then you aren't doing what _you_ love."

"But I'm doing you. I definitely love you." Hayley laughed and let go of Taylor's hand.

"Oh, God, you're the worst." After her laughter subsided, she said, "I couldn't tour and leave you and out kids at home because you have a job. Even if it _is_ in Nashville."

"Yeah," he agreed. "But I feel like I should have a job. It's weird if I don't."

"Because you're the man?"

Taylor shrugged, but said, "I guess, yeah."

"Well, there's nothing fun about being a conventional nuclear family. Are you sure I can't convince you to be a househusband and eventually a stay at home dad? We'd be just fine. I make enough and you wouldn't miss me too much because you'll get to tour with me." She stroked his cheek for a second before combing through his hair with her fingers.

Taylor seemed to think for a few minutes. Would it really be that bad? So he nodded and said. "I'll be your househusband because I love you." And Hayley was happy, there was no was she couldn't have been.

**_The End._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks again for reading! this story was inspired and titled after the song butterflies from kacey musgraves' 2018 album butterflies!


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